‛abd al-karīm al-jīLĪ
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33 I.2 adds here “the place”. 34 Qur’ān XLVIII.10. 35 “Except”. 36 Ta’wīl. This term is often used also to mean spiritual or esoteric hermeneutics. Its etymology is rooted in the word awwal, meaning first or beginning. 37 I.2 for the sake of clarity adds here “You have not just taken my place”. 178 SECTION 2 (16) The dot of the Bā’ is alone in its transcendental world. It has no division in itself although it appears as two in the Tā’ with two dots, and as three in the three-dotted letter. Indicating, as a deterrent and a warning against those who claim [that God has as His] partner one who is second of two, or third of three, that although it may seem to be multiple, in its essence the dot is one. (17) (Don’t you see that) He is one - may He be praised and exalted. That [only] by the imagination of the polytheist He has a partner. That the partnership in which the polytheist in his imagination believes is indeed a creature of God. That the true [God] is in every creature in all His fullness. So the polytheist is created, and the partner in whose partnership he believes is also created. And the believed partnership is created and the belief itself is created. Because God - may He be exalted and praised - is present in His fullness in all these things. His Being cannot be divided nor multiplied nor qualified. He is one and there is no second other. As a consequence if you wanted to associate [a partner with God] and if you wanted to separate Him, then the partner would be God - may He be exalted 38 - and the polytheist would be God, and the partnership would be God. He is everlasting, except in your individuality. (18) (Don’t you see that) the dot because it is a dot and not part of a mass cannot be multiplied and cannot be divided? Likewise none from among God’s people can take one of His parts. In this He is highly exalted. And you find that the dot, in virtue of its oneness, belongs in essence to the number of indivisible 39 [items]. 38 This formula is missing here in I.2. 39 As in I.2 and I.3; C. has “multiple”, which does not make sense in this context. 179 (19) (Know) that the dot in reality cannot be captured by the eye, because everything that you bring out in the physical world can be divided. Instead the dot that we now see is expression of its reality and of the boundary of its reality: a single atom that cannot be divided. As for what is invisible [and belongs to the realm] of imagination, and with [your] writing you have made manifest to the visible world, you add to its essence a property that is not essentially intrinsic to it, that is to say “divisibility.” Because in the realm of beings there is hardly any singular atom - in fact there is none at all - of all that fall under the perception of the senses that cannot be divided. So when this atom appeared under this letter [Bā’] it was distributed, even though it cannot be divided. (20) This is the place of the anthropomorphization of God, as [for example] in the expressions “[God’s] two hands” and “two feet” 40 and “the face [of God]”. 41 And in the ḥ adīth [called] The Wings, 42 “I saw my Lord in the form of a beardless youth wearing golden sandals”. 43 This reference to His perfection is [about] immanence (Tashbīh) contained within transcendence (Tanzīh). Indeed, by definition God is the Infallible One Who has no equal. The One Who hears and sees [everything]. He regards it as permissible to impose anthropomorphism on Him, and that alone. Since His immanence is contained in His 40 Lit. legs. I.2 makes no mention of God’s feet. 41 The dot contained in the letters is just a finite image of an infinite reality. In the same way we apply to God our human, finite categories. 42 I.2 adds here “‛Ikrimah said, quoting the Prophet - may God bless and grant salvation to him and his family”. ‛Ikrimah Ibn Ābī Jahl was one of Muḥammad’s companions, a freed slave who provided a chain of transmission of questionable soundness. 43 C. only begins the ḥadīth, while I.2 quotes the full verse and adds from the Qur’ān: “I saw my Lord in the form of a beardless youth wearing a golden garment instead, and on His head He had a golden crown, and on His feet two golden sandals.” He was God - may He be exalted - manifesting Himself to us in [all] His truth, but in the form of a youth and not as He really is. (The verse of a monotheist) It is beautifully written, about the majesty of His countenance: “Everything He has created, God has [also] perfected” (Qur’ān XXXII.7). 180 transcendence and vice versa - in virtue of the opinion provided by the phraseology of the [Sacred] Book and the Sunna - the invisible world will appear to you in the visible world, and the visible world will conceal itself from you within the invisible world. In the same way since the dot is indeed in all the letters, all the letters are forced into it. What I mean by forced is that the permanence of the letters in [the dot] is sensible but their presence cannot be perceived before they [are made to] emerge from it in your composition. 44 SECTION 3 (21) The dot said to the Bā’, “O letter, indeed I am your origin because out of me you have been composed. But then it is you who in your composition are my origin. Because every portion of you is a dot. So you are the whole and I am the portion, and the whole is the origin while the portion is the derivative. However, I am truly the origin, because composing you is in my nature and essence. 45 Do not look at my projection outside you 46 and say, This protruding is not [part of] me. Indeed I only see you as having my own identity. And if not for my presence in you there would not be for me such a relation with you. Until when will you turn away from me in your exteriority and place me behind your shoulders? Make of your interior your exterior, and of your exterior your interior. Do you not realise my unity with you? If not for you I would not be the dot of the Bā’, and if not for me you would not be the dotted Bā’. “How many times do I have to give you examples so that you understand my unity 44 Word omitted by I.2. 45 This last word is missing in I.2 and I.3 main text, but added in a footnote. 46 The dot underneath the main body of the letter. 181 with you and you know that your extension into the visible realm and my concealment in the transcendental world are two principles of our single essence? There is no partner in me for you, no partner for you in me. What are you if not yourself? Because your name had its origin in my name, (22) don’t you see that of the different parts [that make up your whole] the first part is called a dot, the second part is called a dot, and the third part is called a dot? 47 Likewise all your parts are dot by dot. Therefore I am you. What within you is your individuality but my own identity? This is your individuality by which you are who you are. If you said to yourself I, portraying my being, even I if I said He 48 I would portray my own image. Then you would therefore know that I and He are two modes of expression of the same essence.” (23) And the Bā’ replied, “My master, it has been established that you are my origin. You know that the derivative and the origin are two [different] things. This body of mine is stretched and composite. I do not exist outside of [this body]. Instead you are a small atom found in everything. While I am a heavy body, confined to a single space. Where does it come from for me, therefore, this status of master, and from where [this idea] that I am you? How can your state be my state?” (24) And the dot answered by saying, “The tangibility of your physicality and the abstractness of my spiritual [nature] constitute [respectively] one of my forms and one of my attributes. Because all of the different letters and the words in their entirety are only representations of me. 47 Even the “curl” part of the letter is in itself composed of a series of dots joined up together to form a line. 48 Referred to the letter. 182 “Where does plurality therefore come from? Since we have not established [for example] that [the number] ten is the name [used to indicate] the sum of two given fives. Where then does the difference between five and ten come from? If not by name, from the concept of the decimal. “If you, in all your expressions, are one of my depictions and one of my reflections, where does the duality between me and you come from? And why this debate between me and you? I am origin of all that is purposed in you and of all that is purposed in me. This in its totality is my essence, defined by divine will. “If you wish to comprehend me, imagine yourself and all the letters, and the words small and big, and then say 49 Dot. That, in its totality, is the essence of my self, and my self is the essence of all that. But your self is the totality of that essence. The totality of my essence and yours. 50 However there is no you and no they. I am the whole. Yet there is no I and no you and no they and no one and no two and no three. There is nothing else but the one dot. In it there is no comprehension and no understanding for those like you. [Only] if you were to change from your clothes into my clothes you would know all that I know, and witness all that I witness, and hear all that I hear, and see all that I see.” (25) And the Bā’ replied by saying, “What you have just said is intensely shining! It is given to me to fulfil it at the dawning of this new day. You have said that remoteness and proximity, quantity and quality, [they all derive] from the command of your being. [With] all that I have attended to of the discourse on [this] ordering, and all the other 49 I.2 says “call me”. 50 I.2 has “is the essence of the totality of my nature and your nature.” 183 necessary things, I am at peace, and I depart with my face turned to the domain of my manifestation and the fulfilling of my necessarily harmonious relationship with you. “Whenever I roam the realm of my significance I find you as my [true] self. And if I seek in myself what pertains to you as regards the untying and joining together of the letters, and as regards the manifestations of your perfection in each letter, I cannot find anything; the glass of my endeavour breaks, and I return crestfallen.” (26) And the dot said, “Yes, [crestfallen] you will return because you sought by yourself, and, according to you, your self is not my self. Therefore, you will not find in it what is mine. If you searched in it for the I who is the you in myself - that is, your self, you would have entered the house from its door, and at that time you would not have looked for what pertains to the dot, except in the dot [itself]. But you did not look for the dot except in the wrong place.” 51 Find then the meaning of this if you are with us! POETRY 52 (27) These tents have appeared 53 [held up] on the [tent] ropes. Dismount here if you are among their friends. Stop among these features. At it, ages have stopped in their heydays. Hind is no other than she who dwelled unwillingly. With willow trees and bushes beside. Untie your mount in the dwellings, For indeed this is a blessed home for those who live in it. 51 Lit. “through that which did not belong to it.” 52 Apparently an ode to the “people of God”, those initiated to Sufi Gnosticism. 53 As in a distance to an approaching rider. 184 How excellent are 54 the homes that were honoured By their dwellers and [the dwellers] were honoured by the soil [on which the homes stand]. You cannot differentiate between its chambers. Obscure, locked behind their doors. Those who live in this neighbourhood are their people; those who deserted them are not from their lineage. (28) (The Bā’) is the soul, and it is a dark letter. In addition, in the entire Basmala there are no dark letters besides it. By dark letters, I mean ظ ض ذ خ ث ت ش ف ز د ج ب غ. The bright ones that are abbreviated at the beginning of the suwar 55 are ا ى ط ح ه ص ع س ن م ل ر ق. God made of the letter Bā’ the beginning of the Qur’ān in every sūra because the first veil between you and His [divine] Being - praise to Him - is darkness. But when your being ceases to exist and nothing will remain except Him, His names and attributes that originate in Him, that will be a veil upon Him; but that is brightness. Except for the Bā’ that represents your existence and is dark. 56 For this reason the Bā’ is a cloak over the dot because it is over it, [like] the cloak is over the garments. The Bā’ is darkness to the light of the dot, veiled [as it is] by the presence which is the visible world [that originated] from the beautiful world of the dot. In fact, a rational consideration of the appearance of the dot behind [the Bā’] points to the fact that the realm of what is [truly] real is [hidden] behind what is visible. 54 Lit.: their achievement is due to God. 55 A reference to the abbreviated letters found at the beginning of certain suwar in various combinations. 56 I.2 and I.3 have instead, “Don’t you see that [the formula] In the Name of God the All Compassionate and Most Merciful is all made of bright letters?” There the text of C. is contained in a footnote. 185 Since the dot is attached to the Bā’, the Bā’ is used in speech for joining. And since the shape of the dot is stretched to [form] the Bā’, the Bā’ in the speech of the Arabs is used to indicate instrumentality. 57 (29) When the blissful fire shone 58 for the Bā’ on the tree of its soul, it penetrated the darkness of the invisible canopy of its night, away from its own world, so as to acquire fire for its constitution, 59 or to find within itself direction [in its journey] from itself to itself. It was carved out of an upright portion of the tree of the Alif that is the name of God. Remove your shoes 60 - that is, your character and your being - for indeed, you are at the Blessed Valley, and you are occasion of doubt and defilement. There is no place for you in the Blessed Valley of the dot unless you rid your being and your character of doubt and defilement. 61 Stretch out under the light of the Alif, 62 like the shadow that stretches out, for the shadow of something is that thing. So the length of the Bā’ in every writing is the same length as the line of the Alif of which it is a projection. It saw itself as a shadow of this erection, aware that its existence depended on it. Because a shadow cannot exist, except as a figure between the bodily mass and the level [ground]. Its own existence was dismissed as delusion. Because the shadow by itself is not completely in existence. It is rather the 57 The prefixed preposition Bi. 58 Here begins a long reference to the Qur’anic story of Moses and the burning bush (XX.9). 59 I.2 has instead “for the dot”. 60 XX.12. 61 I.2 adds, “until nothing is left in this sacred place except the Most Holy [God]. Under His direction [the Bā’ ] grasped the hand [offered as a sign] of concord.” 62 Moses’ rod (XX.17, 18). 186 separation of the figure between the concealed mass and the ground. Thus, the existence of the shadow on its own is impossible. However it is a necessary existence. Having verified such degree of non-existence in the Bā’, the Alif took it to itself and set it in its place. Then the Alif was incorporated into it. For this reason in the [formula] “In the Name of God (the All Compassionate and Most Merciful)” it grew in length and became evidence of the assimilation of the Alif. Conceptually, [the Bā’] is delegate of the Alif . Formally, it is an elongated version of the Alif. 63 Thus, it obtained the form and the conceptual significance 64 of the Alif. It occurred 65 to discuss the position of the Alif. In the idiom of the Arabs it is not known of any Bā’ that stands in place of the Alif except for the Bā’ of Bism 66 Allah . Look now at this Bā’, how my sharpness has increased the condition of its great beauty. (30) He sang to me from my heart And I sang as he did. We were where they were And they were where we were. (31) The Alif itself derives from al-Ulfa 67 - actually it is al-Ulfa that derives from the Alif. (You have seen) the noisy controversy and the disagreement over whether the verbal noun derives from the verb or vice-versa. 68 63 Orizontally. 64 Or accidents. 65 I.2 adds, “to me”. 66 In Bism the Bā’ is attached to the Alif of Ism to form one letter: an elongated Bā’ or a curved Alif ( اب ). 67 Verbal noun, meaning union. 68 This controversy flared up in linguistic circles after the second century AH. 187 For this reason the Alif was joined to the Bā’, because the Bā’ had the decency of keeping its place under [the Alif]. So it was reduced to nothing, [as] nothing is the shadow under the figure. Thus the Alif, out of its own natural generosity, provided it with its own place, because the state of the Alif is to take the form of every letter. In fact the Bā’ is a stretched Alif, the Jīm [ ج ] is an Alif with the two ends bent, the Dāl and the Rā’ are Alif bent in the middle, the Shīn is indeed made of four Alif: each one of its teeth is an Alif and the stem is an Alif bent and stretched. This [can] be applied by analogy to the remaining [letters]. This is as far as the form is concerned. As for the conceptual significance, it is necessary to find the Alif in every letter as it is pronounced when you do its spelling. Don’t you see in the Bā’ if you spell it you will have to mention the Alif? And with the Jīm, 69 if you spell it you say Jīm, Yā’ [ ى ] and Mīm. But in the Yā’ with two dots underneath, the Alif is present. 70 Thus, the Alif is in every letter both formally and conceptually. Because it descends into the dot, from the invisible world into the visible world. 71 (32) That one is this one and this one is that one: 72 there it is! That is a part of that that is part. That is the noble Gabriel. 73 He spread out 74 and conceals. 75 (33) Says [the Prophet] - may God bless him and grant him salvation: “No thorn 69 I.2 has instead, “[each letter] is called Bā’, Alif or Jīm.” 70 Alif maqṣūra is a Yā’ without the dots ( ى ). 71 I.2 adds here, “Therefore, it has in the visible world all that the dot has.” 72 The Alif is in each letter and each letter is an Alif. 73 Lit.: the Gabriel of loftiness. 74 Lit.: he welcomed. 75 Lit.: wore a cloak. The dynamics taking place among the letters of the Arabic alphabet signify the relationship between celestial realities and the visible world. 188 will enter the leg of any of you without me feeling its pain”. 76 This is confirmation of his unity with the whole world, its individuals and its parts, so much so that he feels in himself the condition of each individual, and conversely that individual finds him in the world. Question: what is the reason why the Alif was deleted in the Basmala and was not deleted in Read in the Name of Your Lord? 77 Answer: because the Iḍāfa 78 of the name in the former refers to God the All-encompassing Who cannot be restricted to a single attribute. While in the latter the Iḍāfa of the name refers to the Lord, and it is necessary that the Lord should have a servant to lord upon. So it is preposterous that the Bā’ should be united to [the Lord] in this context, because if servitude is lost, also the lordship is immediately lost. But where divinity is concerned, if servitude is lost, [divinity] will not be lost, because it is a name of a rank [encompassing] all ranks. The disappearance of the servant is tantamount to his non-existence, but it is understood that the Lord does not disappear, [remaining] a degree among all the degrees of divinity. So it does not disappear in any way. And when the inclusion of the Alif in this context took place and it was united to the Bā’, it was dropped in pronunciation and writing. Thus, [the formula] In the Name of God the All Compassionate and Most Merciful is pure reality, while [the verse] Read in the Name of Your Lord is pure law. Don’t you see that it recites Read! which is a command, and the command is devoted exclusively to laws? [The formula] In the Name of God the All Compassionate and Most Merciful , instead, is not confined to a command or to anything else. Let [the reader] ponder. Download 5.05 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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